LOS ANGELES MAN RECEIVES DECADE-LONG SENTENCE
FOR TRAVELING TO THAILAND TO HAVE SEX WITH MINORS

A Los Angeles man who formerly worked as an English teacher in Bangkok was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for traveling to Thailand to have sex with minors.

Steven Erik Prowler, 58, pleaded guilty in February to federal charges of traveling abroad with the intent to have sex with a minor and to engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors in another country.

In sentencing Prowler, U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi stated that there is no offense more heinous and depraved than Prowler’s crimes.

Prowler was arrested in May 2005 by the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok after the police, acting on a tip, saw two youths leaving the Prowler’s apartment. The boys, who were 15 and 16, subsequently told police that Prowler had paid them to engage in oral sex. Following Prowler’s arrest, the Royal Thai Police, assisted by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement based in Thailand, searched Prowler’s Bangkok apartment. According to court documents, agents found more than 100 photos of naked teenage boys. Additionally, investigators recovered numerous hand-written journals where Prowler described in graphic detail sexual acts he performed with boys in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Mexico.

“This sentence sends a strong message to predators who might be tempted to commit sex crimes overseas that there will be high price to pay for their actions,” said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. “We owe it to the children who are the victims in these cases, many of whom will bear the emotional scars of this trauma for the rest of their lives.”

Prowler was prosecuted under the provisions of the PROTECT Act, which substantially strengthened federal laws against predatory crimes involving children outside the United States.

The case against Prowler is the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Thai authorities.